Cruise passenger returns to Florida home but fears he may be carrying coronavirus
OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. - Dennis French returned to Central Florida last week from a Caribbean cruise aboard the Norwegian Breakaway.
On Thursday morning, he woke up to an email from the cruise line, notifying him one of his fellow passengers tested positive for COVID-19.
“We should have been notified, immediately, if nothing else, they could have done it in multiple ways, they could have handed us a piece of paper on the way out the door,” said Dennis French, Norwegian Cruise passenger.
French said that several days into the cruise, the ship went under tight health safety restrictions.
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“Why didn’t they do all this two days ago, why today, two, three days into the cruise, it just didn’t make any sense,” said French.
But Norwegian told FOX 35 News that “During the call to Ocho Rios, Jamaica on March 10, 2020, the guest fell ill and checked into a local hospital for treatment. The guest did not re-embark.”
Despite that, French says the process of getting off the ship was surprisingly routine.
“No temperature check, no screenings, no questions asked, nothing, just walked away from the ship, got on a shuttle and left,” he said.
Norwegian said though that “we had no knowledge of the guest’s condition until we were made aware of it by the CDC.”
French said that he is "frustrated that there’s been no consideration for the fact that we were in direct contact, potentially with someone at risk."
Now, French fears that he has blindly spread the virus since being home.
“I have people in the office here that we’re in daily contact with,” said French. “We’re gonna live in that little bit of fear, going to bed at night, worrying that we may be one of the guys carrying it.”
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Norwegian said it is not aware of any similar cases from that trip.
Here is the full Norwegian Cruise Line statement:
“The safety and security of our guests and crew are at all times our first priority. Guests who traveled on the March 7, 2020 voyage of Norwegian Breakaway received a letter sharing information as requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding a passenger who traveled aboard the vessel on that voyage and who tested positive for COVID-19 after disembarkation. This information was shared in an abundance of caution. We had no knowledge of the guest’s condition until we were made aware of it by the CDC. Please know that we performed our pre-embarkation medical screenings, which included a non-touch temperature screening as well as a pre-embarkation health questionnaire certifying the guest’s health status and recent travel history. During the call to Ocho Rios, Jamaica on March 10, 2020, the guest fell ill and checked into a local hospital for treatment. The guest did not re-embark. At this time, we are not aware of other similar cases from this voyage. This is all the information we have to share as the CDC did not provide us with additional details related to this matter.”
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